2023-06-25 05:30:00
For the third and final day of their official visit, Thursday June 22, 2023, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima were guests of Belgium’s second largest city, Antwerp. The Dutch sovereign retains a particular affection for the great port, at the mouth of the Scheldt, of which he has the title of viscount, in his capacity as heir to the Orange-Nassau.
The origin of the House of Nassau goes back to a certain Otho, who died in 972 in Nuremberg. The county that gives it its name is located at the confluence of the Rhine and the Main. In the 13th century, two branches were differentiated: that of Walram, which led to the current Grand Dukes of Luxembourg, and that younger of Othon, established in the 14th century in Breda and Brabant. In 1515, one of Othon’s descendants, Henri, added the small sovereign principality of Orange, in the South of France, to his possessions. His son, René d’Orange-Nassau, will bequeath all of his property to his cousin Guillaume who unites the lands of Provence and the Netherlands with those of Germany.
Antwerp, scene of fierce fighting between Belgians and Dutch
The one who will be nicknamed William the Silent – because of his great self-control – therefore becomes the richest lord of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht and Friesland. And when these “United Provinces” shook off the yoke of the Habsburgs in 1568, it was he who took the lead in the revolt and installed his family at the head of the new state, with the title, soon to be hereditary, of “stathouder”. – Lieutenant Governor. One of his descendants, Prince Guillaume-Frédéric of Orange-Nassau will become in 1815 Guillaume Ier, sovereign of a new kingdom of the Netherlands which then extends over Belgium and, in personal union, over the great – Duchy of Luxembourg.
William of Orange-Nassau said William the Silent (1533-1584). © Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel / Bridgeman Images
Thus, William I bequeathed to Willem-Alexander – of whom he is the fifth-grandfather – the fifty symbolic titles once borne by their common ancestor, the Taciturn. Namely: Prince of Orange-Nassau, Marquis of Veere and Flushing, Count of Buren, Culemborg, Leerdam and Vianden, Viscount of Antwerp, Baron of Aggeris, Bréda, Cranendonck, Pays de Cuijk , of Daesburg, of Eindhoven, of Grave, of De Lek, of IJsselstein, of Diest, of Grimbergen, of Herstal, of Warneton, of Arlay and of Nozeroy, Lord of Ameland, of Baarn, of Bredevoort, of Borculo, Mont-Sainte-Gertrude, Hooge en Lage Zwaluwe, Klundert, Lichtenvoorde, Liesveld, Het Loo, Montfort, Naaldwijk, Niervaart, Polanen, Steenbergen, Sint-Maartensdijk, Soest , Ter Eem, Turnhout, Willemstad, Zevenbergen, Bütgenbach, Saint-Vith and Besançon. To this litany of nobility should be added the title of Squire of Amsberg, which comes to him from his father, the late Prince Claus.
As for the title of Viscount of Antwerp, it takes on a particular historical significance insofar as the city was the subject of fierce battles in the early hours of Belgian independence. On August 2, 1831, two weeks after the accession of Leopold I, the troops of King William II of Orange-Nassau launched an attack to reconquer the lost territories. This “Ten Days campaign” ended in failure, due to the intervention of Louis-Philippe’s France in favor of Belgium. However, the Dutch leave a garrison in the citadel of Antwerp. It will only be dislodged after six weeks of siege by the French army, on December 23, 1832. It will nevertheless be necessary to wait until 1863 for navigation to be made free in the mouths of the Scheldt.
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